Posted on 03/21/2014 3:08:38 AM PDT by No One Special
When Vladimir Putin formally annexed Crimea this week, he acted in defiance of the predictions of many pundits, politicians and so-called experts. Perhaps Putin was not impressed by their sound reasoning and elegant discourse on how his invasion and annexation threatened Russia’s interests. But the main problem with the West’s “Putin would never” arguments is that they assume Putin and his ruling elite care about Russian national interests. They do not,
[...]
The next obstacle to stopping Putin is the self-imposed paralysis of the leaders of Europe and the Group of Seven. It is easier for them to say that there is nothing they can do to check Putin’s ambitions than to admit that they lack the courage to act. Putin keeps raising the stakes, and the West just keeps folding. There are plenty of levers available to apply pressure on Putin, but they require confronting several hard truths.
[...]
The first hard truth is that the only sanctions or other measures that would affect Putin’s conduct are those that, directly or indirectly, would target his hold on power. That is all Putin cares about, because he knows what happens when people in his position lose that grip.
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The second hard truth is that there is no dealing with Putin, no mutually beneficial business as usual. He exploits every opening and feels no obligation to operate by the rule of law or human rights in or outside of Russia.
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If existing laws are inadequate to deal with billionaire thugs who enable a dangerous regime, write new ones. And do all this quickly, because the price to remove Putin goes up with every delay. Eventually, that price will be paid not just in the cash Western countries are afraid to lose but also in human lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Given a choice of the Noble Peace Prize or the NFL Player of the Year...I think Putin would choose the latter. If we could only get twelve Russian billionaires to buy NFL teams....we could get this all to work out. We could even bring Putin in to quarterback the Cowboys (they need a guy like him).
“But, that would betray the green agenda and anti-hydrocarbon foundation of Obama and European leaders....so citizens will suffer.”
Britain is sitting on at least 100 years of natural gas reserves right in its backyard.
The country has an insane programme to cut back on carbon emissions by using expensive subsidized alternative energy schemes like solar and wind farms. The scheme is driving up energy costs to levels that the ordinary Brit can no longer afford.
In addition, a goodly number of Britons are so brainwashed by the eco-fascist propaganda machine that they believe that fraking causes earthquakes, polluted water and probably hemorhoids, too.
BTW, the European continent is sitting on 150 years of coal reserves.
Here’s more data from BBC:
I’ll paraphrase since I don’t know if we can post from BBC.
Cuadrilla has discovered an estimated 200 trillion cubic feet of gas in its Bowland Shale play. That brings the total to 400-500 trillion cubic feet, about a 160-year gas reserve.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-22748915
So many great posts here. Thanks for yours.
I thought we had an excess of it. Was I wrong?
In the past, countries could invade and conquer other countries without any consequences. That was supposed to stop after WWII.
The real challenge might come in the future when Putin tries to reclaim Estonia and Latvia for the Russian Empire--if he gets away with that, then NATO is completely discredited. Which might be a reason he would do so while Obama is still President.
“I thought we had an excess of it. Was I wrong?”
Not sure what your question is.
I’m simply agreeing with the other post that Europe, and the UK in particular, are slavishly bowing to the global warming propagandists and are now complaining that Russia has an energy stranglehold on their economies. This is a situation that Europe and the UK have created all by themselves by acting stupidly while they’re sitting on massive natural gas and coal reserves.
And they were approving ports right and left to ship it.
“An excess of LNG...”
I’m not terribly familiar with LNG logistics. We don’t have a surplus of tankers to ship LNG to Europe. Even if we did, it’s my understanding that Asia will pay more for LNG than Europe. Nor do we have a pipeline from New Orleans to Berlin in order to sell Europeans gas.
Europe has painted itself into a corner by relying on one supplier - Russia. Any disruption in that supply could throw most of Europe into economic chaos. Europe’s best bet right now is to wait for Israel to get its Leviathan gas field in the Mediterranean online to give Europe a modicum of relief. But that field will only provide Europe with enough energy for a few years.
Europe has stupidly fallen for the global warming trash propaganda and is trying to switch to carbon-free energy alternatives like wind and solar. Neither are proven nor mature technologies that can supply all of Europe’s energy needs. Both have needed massive government subsidies that are paid for via green taxes on every Briton’s energy bill.
It shows me that the US doesn’t have a monopoly on incredibly stupid “leaders.”
Poland has fast-tracked Fracking recently.
Agreed! We need to do to Russia what we inadvertently did to Venezuela except on purpose.
Nope! We have way more natural gas already from drilled wells than we can use immediately.
“Poland has fast-tracked Fracking recently.”
That’s great news. If you have a link, please post it.
The problem with fraking is that you need to build the infrastructure to take advantage of it. That costs money. When I did independent contract work in Israel, it was amazing to watch how Israeli private investors worked with European and Russian investors to develop its Leviathan gas field in the Mediterranean Sea. The investors brought in Noble Energy from Texas to develop the field. Recently, an Australian energy company bought a 25% share in the Leviathan field. What happened in Israel happened just in time as the country’s old gas fields played out. I consider that a capitalist miracle with the Lord’s help.
I hope that Poland has similar success in its gas plays.
Here you go...
Shale gas extraction tax-free in Poland through 2020
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/world/a/21930469/shale-gas-extraction-tax-free-in-poland-through-2020/
“We have way more natural gas already from drilled wells than we can use immediately.”
It’s much more amazing than most people realize. Energy, like gas, mining and oil exploitation, create economic multipliers. I’m not an expert in economics, but for every energy job created, you also create multiple satellite jobs to support the energy industry. Things like restaurants, hardware stores, housing and trucking.
We are on the edge of a huge economic boom fueled by energy development.
Our task is to get the fascist federal government out of our way. If we do that, America will see an economic revival the likes of have never been experienced.
JMHO
Looks like a good plan. The Poles learned from our stupid acquiescence to the Arab oil embargo of 1973.
If that RINO freak Nixon had any balls, he would have sent a carrier to the Gulf of Oman filled with Marine A-4 Skyhaks to strafe the Saud house. Damn SOB Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud would have been sh*tting parts of 20 MM cannon fragments out his Arab butthole.
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